YouTube says it will remove Viacom clips

BenCharny

RussBritt

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Google Inc.'s YouTube unit, the free video-sharing Web site, bowed Friday to Viacom Inc.'s sweeping demand that it remove more than 100,000 of its videos from the site.

Viacom issued the demand after months of failed negotiations to strike a content-licensing deal with Google
GOOG, +1.20%
which acquired YouTube for $1.65 billion last year.

It remains to be seen just what impact this might have on YouTube's popularity. Clips from MTV and other Viacom properties have been among the most popular on the site; some have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

Late Friday, clips from Viacom's MTV network disappeared from the site, according to Viacom. But others were available; some already viewed more than 500,000 times each.

In a written statement, New York-based Viacom
VIA, -2.82%
said it was acting in part because YouTube failed, as promised, to add certain tools to stop pirated material from being added to the site. Screening of videos was supposed to start around Jan. 1, but have apparently not materialized.

"It's unfortunate that Viacom will no longer be able to benefit from YouTube's passionate audience, which has helped to promote many of Viacom's shows," a YouTube representative wrote in an email statement.

Big media

Viacom's action, in light of YouTube's response, raises the question whether other major U.S. entertainment firms will follow suit. While many have asked YouTube to remove small numbers of videos at a time, Viacom appears to be the first major U.S. entertainment provider to ask for all its clips to be removed.

Yet Google says it's already reached licensing deals with some other entertainment providers. At least one major U.S. entertainment provider, News Corp., said Friday they have no intention of asking for such a comprehensive take-down.

According to Viacom, Google has compounded the problem lately by allowing its Google Video Web site to include YouTube videos.

"After months of ongoing discussions with YouTube and Google, it has become clear that YouTube is unwilling to come to a fair market agreement that would make Viacom content available to YouTube users," Viacom said in its statement.

"YouTube and Google retain all of the revenue generated from this practice, without extending fair compensation to the people who have expended all of the effort and cost to create it.

"Our hope is that YouTube and Google will support a fair and authorized distribution model that allows consumers to continue to enjoy our very popular content now and in the future," Viacom said in its statement.

Viacom's showdown comes three weeks after it introduced "Acceptable TV," which it described in Viacom press materials as "reforming the runaway user-generated content movement."

Ganging up on Google?

While News Corp.
NWS, -0.90%
subsidiaries such as Fox television have had their disputes with YouTube in recent weeks, the company is not planning to make a similar blanket demand, said Andrew Butcher, corporate spokesman.

Fox recently subpoenaed YouTube for the names of those who uploaded Fox television shows "24" and "The Simpsons."

"We respect Viacom's decision to protect its content in whatever way they think is appropriate," Butcher said. "We don't have any plans for that."

Butcher said News Corp. is looking at YouTube videos on a case-by-case basis, requesting takedowns for some videos and allowing others to stand.

Officials at Walt Disney Co.
DIS, -1.06%
had no immediate comment, nor did Sony Corp.
SNE, -2.20%
Sony, however, acquired a major rival to YouTube when it purchased a site called Grouper in August for $65 million.

As for Time Warner Inc.
TWX, -28.57%
spokesman Keith Cocozza said his company was in talks regarding a potential licensing deal to put its content out on YouTube. Google owns 5% of Time Warner's AOL division.

To some degree, Viacom may simply be trying to get an upper-hand in the stalled negotiations, or force Google back to the bargaining table, said Bill Heller, a veteran intellectual property lawyer with the firm of McCarter & English.

"Viacom clearly has the advantage here," Heller said.

Fred von Lohmann, senior lawyer at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said Viacom's demands may be part of a strategy of posturing to keep up leverage against Google.

"It sounds like Viacom is turning up the heat," von Lohmann said. "If Viacom was going to sue, they would have sued yesterday."

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